Organic nonlinear optical (NLO) material, N-succinopyridine (NSP), was synthesised and bulk single crystals were grown from aqueous solution using isothermal solvent evaporation technique. The stoichiometric form of NSP has been confirmed by carbon–hydrogen–nitrogen analysis. NSP crystallizes in orthorhombic system with non-centrosymmetric space group P212121 and unit cell dimensions a = 7.721(2) A, b = 7.762(3) A, c = 14.951(3) A. The thermal stability, thermal decomposition and specific heat capacity of NSP have been investigated by thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) analysis and modulated DSC analysis. A wide transparency window, 294–1,100 nm, useful for optoelectronic applications is indicated by UV–Vis–NIR studies. The NLO second harmonic generation efficiency analysis using Nd:YAG laser (1,064 nm) revealed that the SHG efficiency of NSP is about 1.2 times higher than that of standard potassium dihydrogen phosphate powder of comparable size and more importantly that it is phase-matchable. The room temperature mechanical behaviours of NSP have been tested using Vicker’s microhardness tester and the results were analysed through classical Mayer’s law. The dielectric behaviours such as dielectric constant, dielectric loss and ac conductivity of NSP single crystal have also been investigated as a function of frequency (20 Hz–1 MHz) and temperature (308–358 K).